AmericaSpeaks' 21st Century Town Meeting method creates engaging, meaningful opportunities for citizens to participate in public decision making. This unique process updates the traditional New England town meeting to address the needs of today's citizens, decision makers and democracy. (continue)

This 46-page report from the CommunityMatters partner organizations shares resources and highlights from sessions run by each of the partners (including NCDD) in February 2013 for a day-long workshop for local leaders in Newport, Vermont. The workshop focused on tools and techniques to encourage broad citizen participation, improve local decision-making, and to help Newport leaders work together to build civic infrastructure in their rapidly developing town. (continue)

The Public Engagement Principles (PEP) Project was launched in mid-February 2009 to create clarity in our field about what we consider to be the fundamental components of quality public engagement, and to support President Obama's January 21, 2009 memorandum on open government. The following principles were developed collaboratively by members and leaders of NCDD, IAP2 (the International Association of Public Participation), the Co-Intelligence Institute, and many others. (continue)

Although we did not seek endorsements for the expanded text under the Core Principles for Public Engagement and their one-sentence descriptions, the text under the headers “In high quality engagement” and “What to avoid” was developed alongside the seven Core Principles in a highly collaborative and transparent manner. The purpose of the expanded text is to illustrate and breathe life into the principles, and should accompany the list of Core Principles whenever possible. We encourage you to adapt or revise this text for different audiences […] (continue)

Below are dozens of links to dialogue and deliberation success stories and case studies that are available online. Approaches covered include Deliberative Polling, Citizens Juries, Future Search, National Issues Forums, Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue, AmericaSpeaks, Study Circles, the Public Conversations Project, and Wisdom Councils. NCDD has been compiling these resources for the D&D community for several years, but we could really use your help keeping this page updated. Email us at ncdd@thataway.org with your additions and changes. (continue)

Need great quotes for a publication, article or report you're writing? This NCDD resource lists dozens of quotes organized by topic: dialogue; deliberation; listening; communication; truth, knowledge & exploration; conflict and transforming conflict; inclusion; democracy; action & change; and a miscellaneous category for other great quotes that are relevant to this work. (continue)

Created by NCDD director Sandy Heierbacher in collaboration with Martin Carcasson, Will Friedman and Alison Kadlec (and based on Carcasson's paper Beginning With the End in Mind), the Goals of Dialogue & Deliberation graphic pictured here outlines 3 types of goals for public problem-solving work. In a nutshell, the three tiers of goals are individual and knowledge-based goals, immediate group/community outcomes, and longer-term capacity building and community change. Click on the image to view a larger version of the graphic. (continue)

A "frame" is a way of understanding or interpreting what is going on and how we should relate to it. How we frame an issue or conflict (or how it is framed for us) has a tremendous impact on what we do about it. This post was created in the NCDD wiki, and mainly features an article by Tom Atlee of the Co-Intelligence Institute. (continue)